


Broken

by BluenetteDiviner



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Dark/Reader - Freeform, Darkiplier - Freeform, Darkiplier/Reader - Freeform, Demons, F/M, Mark/reader - Freeform, Markipler - Freeform, Smut, alternative universe, markiplier/reader - Freeform, reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-17 06:39:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14827283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluenetteDiviner/pseuds/BluenetteDiviner
Summary: 18+ / One day, you received a call from Mark.  He was in floods of tears and panicking, rambling that his roommate had just walked out on him and that he really needed your help, you were happy to oblige, but nothing could have prepared you for what he revealed that night.  This is also on Fanfiction.net, Wattpad and DeviantArt.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!
> 
> The content of this story is dark and may be triggering, please read with caution.

 

You look stressed precious, when are you on 'til?"

You look at the clock on the wall and heave a heavy sigh as you finish pouring the pint, handing it to Phil, one of your regular customers. He was an elderly gentleman who had a bit of a gambling problem from the stories you've heard from him, but he was lovely all the same.

"Half an hour ago and I've got an important appointment I'm now going to be late for"

"It's midnight! What on earth do you need to be doing at this time of night?" You pause, carefully thinking your answer through.

"It's difficult to explain, but once a month I have to help my friend"

"What? Is he a werewolf or something?" Phil chuckled, you gave him a warm smile, indulging him in his terrible joke. You perked up a bit when you heard a car pull into the gravel car park and you looked out the window, immediately recognising the blue BMW as the landlord's car so you rushed to gather your things together ready to leave. The landlord and his wife walk into the bar with apologetic looks on their faces.

"Sorry (Y/N), roadworks" You give them a reassuring smile despite your frustration.

"That's okay, as long as you had a good time, I do really have to go now though"

"Yeah, of course, go." You give them another smile in thanks and rush out the door. It took a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the darkness, there were no streetlamps around the pub and there was no moonlight to assist your vision. You checked your phone to find it was full of missed calls, voicemails and text messages, Mark was obviously worried so you dialed his number and he picked up almost immediately.

"(Y/N)! Finally, where are you?"

"I'm really sorry Mark, it's been a bit mental at work but I'm now on my way"

"Please hurry" The desperation in his voice worried you, so you picked up your pace.

"I am, I'll be there in 15 minutes, tops. Make a start and I'll see you when I get there, okay? Just relax"

"Okay, thank you (Y/N)"

You sighed as you put your phone back in your pocket, perspiration beginning to form on your forehead as you tried to complete a half hour walk in 15 minutes. As you walked you reminisced about how this routine had started. You and Mark had been good friends for a number of years after you had met in high school. The two of you had just clicked, you had the same interests and hobbies so always had something to talk about. Then, one day, you received a call from Mark. He was in floods of tears and panicking, rambling that his roommate had just walked out on him and that he really needed your help, you were happy to oblige, but nothing could have prepared you for what he revealed that night.

Once a month, during the night of a new moon, something would take over Mark. He referred to the being as 'Dark' and usually, Mark can keep him contained in the back of his mind, but on that one night a month when the night is at its darkest, Mark cannot control him. So, he and his roommate had set up a routine where, on that night he would lock all the doors and windows and then restrain Mark in a bodge-job straitjacket they had made to protect both himself and others. He would then leave for the night and bring all the keys back the next morning. But a couple of weeks prior to him leaving, he hadn't managed to restrain Mark in time. He never told you exactly what Dark had done, but he had apparently just disappeared afterwards.

That was a year ago now and the months had passed without incident, you'd never encountered Dark as you had always managed to leave before Mark released him. You spoke about him on occasion, but you didn't know much about him, only that he feeds on life force and that he had killed before but that was enough to convince you to help Mark restrain him.

You knocked gently on the door when you arrived at Mark's apartment and it opened almost immediately, as if Mark had been waiting behind it the entire time.

"You okay?" You asked, carefully scanning his face for anything out of the ordinary. He gave a small nod and looked at the floor as he stepped aside to let you past so you could make a start on preparations for the night.

"There isn't much time, I can't hold him back much longer" Mark said dejectedly as he collapsed on the one of the sofas in the middle of the living room, his already dark eyes had become a dull but much more sinister black shade and he looked exhausted.

"Okay, I'm going to go get the jacket, we'll do that first" You rushed into Mark's bedroom to grab the make-shift straitjacket, it looked like it was pretty simple to make, comprising of a jumper that was a little too big for Mark with several belts sewn into it to secure it, as well has his arms, to his body. You spent a couple of minutes rummaging through his wardrobe, cursing him for the disorganised mess of clothing in there before making your way back into the living room. You froze as you exited the hallway, dropping the jacket on the floor with a clunk. "Shit..." You whispered to yourself, Mark was nowhere to be seen. "Mark...?" You called out again cautiously, your eyes darting around the room to find some sign that Mark was still there. You hadn't heard the front door open or shut, so you reasoned with yourself that he must still be in the apartment somewhere.

"Hello, (Y/N)" The gentle yet chilling voice came from directly behind you and your blood froze in your veins. It was definitely Mark, but there was something very wrong and before you could process another thought you bolted for the front door, hoping you could get out quick enough to lock it behind you. Dark was too fast though and you yelped in pain as you were forced against the solid wood door, you tried to struggle but he was too strong, you couldn't move.

"Now, now, at least let me introduce myself" You shivered as his deep, sultry drawl caressed your ear, a mixed pang of terror and arousal rattled up your spine and you released a shaky breath. He slowly backed away from you, allowing you to peel yourself away from Mark's front door, you turned to face the demon behind you and your heart sank.

It looked as if all the blood had drained from Mark's body, his usually beautifully bronzed skin had taken on a sickly pallor and his eyes, usually bright and full of life were now black, cold and calculating. He held out his hand and you shied away, deeply disturbed by the smirk on his face indicating completely different intentions from his void-like gaze.

"Lock the door and give me the keys" You paused, looking at the door and then down to the keys, calculating your current odds of escape. You were snapped out of your concentration by Dark as he tutted in disapproval. "Don't make me angry (Y/N)" After another quick but gruelling internal battle, self-preservation won out and you did as the demon asked. You slowly turned the key in the lock, listening out for the click that signalled your last chance of escape had gone, before dropping the keys into Dark's open palm. "Good" He cooed, almost lovingly before gesturing towards the sofas. "Now take a seat".

You nervously made your way over to the seat Mark had been sat before, not taking your eyes of Dark for a second as he placed himself on the edge of the coffee table in front of you. You looked away as his gaze met yours, choosing to stare at the floor instead and pray that this was some sort of dream. You had no idea what Dark was capable of, Mark had never actually told you why Dark had to be restrained and locked in the apartment or why he exists in the first place. The uncertainty of the situation was driving you crazy, surely if he wanted to kill you he'd have tried something by now. You started as you were snapped back to reality when Dark spoke again.

"I've been waiting a long time to meet you, it's been awfully lonely recently" The grin that cut across his face made your hairs stand on end and your skin crawl.

"W-what do you want?" You finally managed to stammer. Dark chuckled softly, though his eyes showed none of the humour on his face.

"Why do you look so frightened? Don't worry little one, I won't break you" He extended his arm to cup your cheek and you leaned into his gentle touch despite every fiber of your being screaming at you not to, it was like you couldn't control your actions anymore. A coy smile pulled the corners of Dark's pale lips upward as his eyes gave you a thorough once over before he added "unless you deserve to be broken".

You pulled away from him and your breathing quickened as you began to panic, you wanted to run but you couldn't move, and it wasn't like you could escape anyway, all the exits were locked tight. You screwed your eyes shut to stop the tears that threatened to spill, you didn't want Dark to see how distraught you were but you couldn't take seeing your best friend's body being controlled by this monster. He was such a sweet, generous and selfless man and he'd done nothing to deserve this. You took a deep breath to centre yourself, suppressing the terror you were feeling and mustering what little courage you had left to speak again.

"I want to speak to Mark." You said, raising your voice as desperation began to set in. "Bring Mark back!" Dark's expression suddenly turned sour, his eyes burning with rage as they began to glow a deep red.

"No." He spat, standing up suddenly. You barely had time to react before he slapped you across the face, sending you to the floor with a cry. You lay on the floor, your vision spinning at the force of the impact, it had felt like a punch and could already feel a bruise forming under the throbbing skin. You choked as Dark gripped you by your throat and picked you up, forcing you against the wall so hard your head bounced off it, causing black spots to appear in your vision. You gasped for air, only managing small gurgles and chokes as you clawed urgently at Dark's arm, but his grip only tightened.

"I have been locked up in his prison for too long, I have waited patiently, he promised me this one night a month to be free. He thinks that he can repress me by stopping me from feeding, his mind may be strong but I would have broken it eventually!" Dark continued to rant with venomous hatred, but you were struggling to make out what he was saying anymore. You slumped in his grip as your head began to throb and your hearing became muffled as your brain slowly used the last of its oxygen. You noticed that Dark had paused in his ranting, his eyes had dimmed back to empty blackness and he had that spine-chilling smirk on his face again. He said something to you but you didn't hear it as you succumbed to the oblivion of unconsciousness.

* * *

 

You moaned in pain as you awoke, you appeared to be lying on a bed but you weren't really concentrating, there was a piercing ringing in your ears and your jaw ached. You tried to take a deep breath but coughed as the action felt like needles in your throat. You went to rub your eyes but found you couldn't move your arms, they had been bound above your head. You opened your eyes and looked around desperately to find something to indicate where you were but you could only see blackness. Your chest tightened as you suddenly remembered how you had gotten here and you futilely pulled at your restraints, grunting as you kicked out and yanked your arms. You eventually slumped back on the bed, breathing heavily from your pointless efforts as you dejectedly began to accept your fate, Dark was probably going to kill you and there was absolutely no way of escaping now.

"Shh..." You jumped as you felt a cold hand touch your cheek, Dark had been next to you the entire time.

"Just kill me." You said jadedly, you didn't want to hurt anymore, you just wanted this to end.

"Kill you?" Dark laughed and you felt the mattress move as he got up off the bed. You heard a click and yelled out in pain as suddenly all you could see was white and your retinas burned. "(Y/N), your life force is intoxicating, the strongest I have felt in a very long time. I can feel it just from being near you, I even managed to get a small feeding when you were fighting for your life earlier, it would be the epitome of avarice if I were to take it all in one sitting."

You blinked several times, trying to regain your sight so you could see what Dark was doing. When the world came back into focus, you noticed that Dark had taken his shirt off and was staring at you intently, there was a kind of want in his eyes that caused a stir in the pit of your stomach. You released a shaky breath, not realising you'd been holding it, you had always found Mark attractive and had wanted to be with him for a long time, but he had given no indication of feeling the same and you were terrified of ruining the close friendship you had formed. Dark noticed you admiring his physique and snickered, stretching his arms above his head and causing the muscles in his torso and arms to flex causing you to swallow hard and snap your gaze to the ceiling. 'It's not Mark' you kept thinking to yourself. Dark chuckled softly as he sat himself next to you on the bed before he spoke again, his voice was deep with want.

"The first night he restrained me was when he met you, I felt you before you even walked into the classroom. He tried so hard to keep me away from you, but he just couldn't stop himself from talking to you, that was his first mistake. I couldn't believe my luck when he asked you to help restrain me, I knew from that point if I just bided my time and saved my energy, one of you would slip up. I almost feel bad for him, he's losing his mind right now, he really cares about you" Dark then crawled on top of you and leaned down so his lips were just lightly brushing yours and you felt your breath catch in your throat. You didn't know what was wrong with you, minutes ago you were terrified of this being and now you wanted to lean forward and kiss him.

"Did you know your life force is at its most potent during orgasm?" Your eyes widened and you couldn't help the gasp of pleasure that escaped your lips as Dark leaned down to nip just under your jaw, brushing his lips and teeth down your bruised throat to your collarbone. You felt his hands creep under your shirt, slowly pushing it up as he lightly scraped his nails up your sides, you arched your body against him and heard him groan against your skin, every part of you knew this was wrong but you couldn't help yourself. He pushed your shirt over your bra and reached behind you to unhook it, his lips enclosing around your right breast the moment it was freed. You were like putty in his hands, small gasps of pleasure escaping your lips at his every touch and kiss, you hadn't even noticed he had undone your jeans until you felt his fingers slide under the waistline and your body jolted as if you'd been electrocuted when the pad of his finger gently brushed the small bundle of nerves between your thighs.

"(Y/N), your energy is divine, I want you so badly" Dark panted into the skin of your neck, before taking some of the skin between his teeth and biting down firmly, the pain only heightened the pleasure and you felt desire coiling tightly in your gut. You could feel his erection throbbing against your thigh as he gently rocked his hips against you.

"Then take me." You rasped, you'd never felt like this before, you couldn't think straight, all you knew is that you now wanted Dark as badly as he wanted you. Almost as soon as the words left your mouth, Dark pulled away from you and you couldn't reign back the moan of disappointment at the loss of contact. He hooked his fingers under the waistline of your jeans and panties and you felt the ropes pull at your wrists as Dark pulled them off roughly, before sliding back on top of you. You stared into each other's eyes for a moment, breathing heavily. They had started to glow red again, but this time it was different, he suddenly pressed forward, crushing his lips against yours and you cried out as he pushed himself inside you. It had been a long time and he definitely wasn't small, he gave you little time to adjust before he started thrusting at a brutal pace.

The pain didn't last long and was replaced by pure, unadulterated ecstasy, it didn't occur to you to try and keep quiet. The bed creaked and the headboard bounced off the wall as Dark pounded into you, sweat beginning to drip off his body as he wrapped his arms around you and pulled his body into yours, his rhythm not faltering for a second. Dark slightly changed position and your entire body seized as he hit something deep within you.

"Oh god! Right there! Harder" You screamed as your body twitched and rocked to meet Dark's, you could feel the ropes cutting into your wrists but the pain didn't register, all you could feel was your release coiling tighter and tighter in your gut. Dark's breathing had become ragged and his pace started to get erratic as he also neared release. "I'm so close" you whimpered and Dark released a deep, guttural groan.

"Come for me" he whispered huskily into your ear, and you couldn't hold back any longer, you were blinded by stars as wave after wave of pleasure crashed into your body and you faintly heard Dark yell out as he thrust firmly one last time, but you suddenly felt drained, as if all your energy had been sapped from your body and you didn't even try to fight it as you slipped into unconsciousness again.

* * *

When you awoke, you couldn't help the soft groan that escaped your lips, you felt like you had the worst hangover you've ever had. Your head was pounding, your throat was dry and scratchy, your entire body ached and you had absolutely no energy. When you eventually managed to flutter your eyes open you were confused as to why your bedroom light was on, and your breath hitched in your throat when you remembered where you were.

You looked beside you to find Mark was still unconscious, it was definitely Mark, the sickly pale skin of Dark had been replaced with Mark's usual bronze. You realised quickly that your hands had been untied and you gingerly sat up, trying not to wake the lightly snoring man beside you and put your head in your hands.

You could barely process all the emotions racking your battered body, you were angry, terrified, guilty and happy all at the same time; angry that you had let Dark take advantage of you, terrified of what Mark would think if he knew and guilty that you had enjoyed it so damn much. But no matter how hard you tried, or how much you tried to rationalise it in your head, you couldn't help the smile pulling at your lips as you quietly gathered your clothes and redressed yourself, wincing every time you caught the multitude of bruises over your body.

You snuck out of the bedroom, gently closing the door behind you and tip-toeing into the living room. You cursed yourself as you tried the front door to find it was still locked and you wracked your brain trying to remember if you'd seen what Dark had done with them. You made your way back over to where the two of you had been sat the night before and sighed in relief when you saw the front door key glinting on the coffee table. You quietly put the window keys on the table and took the front door key, sliding the key under the door after you had locked it behind you.

You smiled to yourself as you left the apartment building and made your way back to your own apartment, collapsing into your bed and staring at the ceiling. Mark would be worried about you but you had to process last night's events and work out how you felt. You also didn't want to be there when Mark woke up, you were terrified of what he would think of you if he knew what had happened last night, and how you reacted. You rubbed your chaffed wrists and felt chills as you remembered how you got them.

Your phone buzzed on your bedside table, indicating you had a text message, you lazily rolled over to grab it and saw it was Mark.

**Mark: 09:36 13/07/17**

_Where are you? I woke up in bed rather than on the sofa and he hasn't said a word since. Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?_

You put the phone down again, unsure of what to say right now. A smile spread across your face again as a voice in your head said:

' _Nothing I couldn't handle.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I hope you enjoyed it, I'd just like to clarify a couple of things before you go.
> 
> \- I have been out of the fanfiction writing game for a long time and may be a bit rusty, I am always open to constructive criticism but please be gentle.  
> \- I did proof-read this before posting it but sometimes mistakes slip through, feel free to point them out and I'll fix them.  
> \- I wrote the smut scene while intoxicated, sorry if it's bad. I used to write almost exclusively smut but this is the first time I've written in 2nd Person and I felt kind of awkward about it.


	2. Chapter 2

"Bye Eric! See you tomorrow!"   
  
"See you tomorrow, (Y/N). I hope you're feeling better then." You gave your boss a tired smile and a wave, you'd had to take the first couple of days off work after the night with Dark because you just couldn't get out of bed, you just slept and you wanted to give your bruises some time to fade. The past few days you'd had to force yourself out of your apartment to go to work because you were still lethargic, but you couldn't spend any more time alone there; videogames, movies, music and alcohol could only distract you so much.

You just couldn't stop thinking about that night, about him. He was all you would see every time you closed your eyes and all you would dream about when you'd eventually slip off to sleep, you'd even find yourself daydreaming at work. Those terrifyingly empty eyes, that demonic yet strangely soothing voice, his undeniably sexy smirk, no matter how hard you tried, you just could not get him out of your head. You had a feeling the regulars and your co-workers knew something was up, they were almost unrelenting with their questioning, you knew they just wanted to make sure you were okay but it was getting harder and harder to keep waving them off.

  
Your smile dropped as soon as you walked out the front door of the pub. Usually you'd love your "half-day Monday" where you worked a daytime shift rather than a close, but today you had been dreading the end of your shift. It had been just over a week since that night and you had arranged to meet with Mark today to talk about what happened. He'd been pestering you several times a day for an explanation and you'd eventually cracked and just told him you'd meet him after work Monday. You wracked your brain for what you could possibly tell him while you were walking but you came up with blanks.   
  
You'd come to terms with how you felt, you were angry, you felt manipulated and violated and despite how much you'd enjoyed it at the time, you had rationalised that Dark had used your attraction to Mark against you and you never wanted it to happen again. You had a feeling you were lying to yourself but you'd push that thought away as quickly as it appeared, you were so confused about the whole situation that you just didn't want to think about it anymore.

  
_'Why didn't Mark tell me that Dark was some sort of incubus?'_ You asked yourself, feeling your brow furrow as you felt a bitterness toward Mark rise within you.  _'He must have known.'_

You quickly nipped into the convenience store on the way and picked up a bottle of wine. You had really struggled in your head over the past week and alcohol had provided a welcome escape from all the uncertainty, you weren't addicted, but it was definitely becoming a habit.   


You picked up the strongest Rosé you could find and smiled at Mattie who was standing behind the counter. He had previously worked a couple of shifts with you at the pub when you'd been short staffed and you'd become friendly acquaintances. He smiled back but looked concerned, he'd been serving you all week, so had some idea of your new hobby.

"Another one for the walk? You doing okay?" You gritted your teeth behind your smile.

"Yeah I'm fine, just working through some shit right now. Don't worry about it, I'll be okay. I always am." You waved goodbye and escaped the shop quickly to avoid further interrogation.

By the time you'd reached Mark's front door, you were trembling with both nerves and rage, you knocked on the wood firmly and after a few seconds Mark opened it. The air felt like it had been sucked out of your lungs as you set eyes on him. He looked terrible, there were dark rings around his eyes and they looked sunken as if he hadn't had a wink of sleep since that night. He also looked thinner, as if he'd barely eaten either and you felt your rage momentarily dissipate and guilt take its place. He'd obviously been very worried about you and you avoiding him must've been driving him crazy.  
  
Neither of you said a word as you walked past him to take a seat on the sofa in the living room, he closed the door and followed suit. You pulled the bottle of wine out of your bag and opened it, taking a deep swig. You noticed Mark was giving you a disapproving look but you ignored it, you didn't care at that moment, all you knew was that you didn't want to have the conversation you were about to have. You chose to keep your gaze fixed anywhere but Mark before he broke the silence.   
  
"How are you doing?" You stared at him for a few seconds, stunned at the sheer gall of the question.   
  
_'How the fuck do you think I'm doing?!'_ You screamed in your head, but chose to take another gulp of wine before deciding how to answer. "As well as can be expected" you said flatly, impressed that your anger hadn't surfaced as you spoke. You wondered for a moment if you were being selfish by being angry with Mark, he had obviously suffered just as much, if not more than you, but you couldn't shake it. "What about you?" Mark just shrugged his shoulders, sinking into his seat with a sigh.   
  
"Why did it take so long for you to tell me you were okay? Have you got any idea what that did to me?" You were taken aback by his tone, he spoke to you as if you were some teenage girl that was late for curfew and it caused your precariously balanced lid to topple off.   
  
"Have you stopped to think how it made  _me_  feel?" You said incredulously, your voice raising in volume. "I don't know what you saw, but I actually went through it and I was sure I was going to die, I'm  _so_  sorry I wasn't able to get over it straight away to tend to you! It's bad enough that he manipulated me into thinking I enjoyed it, it's another for you to completely dismiss my feelings about it!" You were breathing heavily when you reached the end of your tirade, you hadn't even really been thinking, all the anger, frustration and uncertainty over the past week had just spilled out in one rant. Mark was giving you a strange look, as if he had no idea what you were talking about.   
  
"What do you mean you enjoyed it? Enjoyed what?" In that moment it felt like all your internal organs had turned to stone and were dropping one by one within your body. You shouldn't have said that, Mark obviously had no idea what exactly had happened.   
  
"Y-you don't know anything?" You stammered, surely this was something Dark would use to torture Mark, at least it seemed that way while it was happening.   
  
"I only know what he allowed me to see, I don't even know if it was real, but it was horrible." You felt your stomach lurch and your breath leave your lungs. What had Dark let him see? You focused your gaze hard on the floor as if it would eventually give you the answers you sought. Mark's feet suddenly came into your vision as he sat himself on the coffee table in front of you, but you refused to look up until he gently grabbed your chin, forcing you to look at him. There was a mixture of rage and deep worry in his eyes. "(Y/N)" He'd never used this tone of voice with you before, it was flat, emotionless, as if he'd just accepted the world was ending, yet commanding in a way that made you want to do as he said, no questions asked. "What did he do to you?"   
  
He was looking you dead in the eyes but you couldn't answer, you wanted to say something but the words just kept catching in your throat. You felt like you were frozen in time and you couldn't keep track of any one thought in the millions that were firing through your brain.   
  
"What did you see?" The words were barely audible when you finally managed to speak.   
  
"Don't-!" he went to yell before stopping himself, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose before finishing his sentence in a softer voice. "-change the subject."   
  
"I'm not! This seems to be more about putting  _your_  mind at ease than anything else, tell me what you think happened and I'll confirm or deny it." Mark quietly growled in irritation, if looks could kill, you would have been six feet under and you could almost feel the daggers. You were being overly defensive and you knew it was obvious you were hiding something, you didn't know exactly why you were so scared of Mark finding out, but you knew you would do anything to avoid it.   
  
"I saw him hit you, and hold you up by your throat" You nodded apprehensively, refusing to look at him.  
  
"Yeah, that happened." You mumbled, choosing your words carefully so as to not slip up again. You rubbed your throat where the bruises had recently been, memories flashing in front of your eyes from how you got them. You felt a shiver run up your spine and you hoped Mark didn't notice.

  
"Then I think he showed you in my room? I can't remember the details, it was very vague, I couldn't really see what was happening. All I know is you looked in pain and all I could hear was him laughing at me, I- I thought he'd killed you." His voice cracked slightly and trailed off at the end and you could tell he was trying to swallow back tears.   
  
You made the mistake of looking up and locking eyes with Mark and you knew he had you now. If you looked away, he'd know whatever came out of your mouth next would be a lie, but you couldn't look your best friend in the eye and lie about this. You could see Mark was getting angry by the look on his face, the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end with how much he looked like Dark, your chest tightened painfully as you felt your heart begin to race as quickly as your thoughts and you began to feel nauseous. His eyes were almost black from lack of sleep, the dark circles only emphasising them as they pierced your very soul. Your mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, only small choked sounds coming out as you desperately tried to say something to get out of the situation.   
  
"Why won't you tell me what the fuck is going on (Y/N)?!" Mark suddenly exploded, jolting you out of your thoughts and you instinctively cowered in your seat. "You're keeping something from me and I don't understand why! You both are, Dark has barely said a word to me since that night, he just laughs." You bit your lip, Dark was using you to torture Mark and you'd done nothing to help. "Whatever happened, he did it with my hands, it's my responsibility."  
  
"Don't say that, Mark. It wasn't you." You muttered, the words were almost a whisper, but Mark heard them and he suddenly defused, putting his head in his hands and rubbing his tired and tearing eyes with a heavy sigh. "He hurt you, worse than I thought by the looks of it and it's destroying me. We were so close and I should never have gotten you involved. I'm so sorry, (Y/N)"   
  
You looked back at the floor, you hadn't really considered how badly this would affect Mark. He'd never hidden from you that Dark was dangerous, and he didn't share with you what Dark had done in the past because he probably didn't even know himself. You suddenly saw everything from Mark's perspective and tears blurred your vision as guilt began to eat away at you, you'd just left him in the dark about everything without a second thought, he'd let you in on a very personal aspect of his life and you were throwing it back in his face.   
  
"He.." The words caught in your throat again, Mark looked at you, there were tears silently sliding down his face, you took a shaky breath. "He..." You paused again, you couldn't say it, all the pain, humiliation, pleasure and confusion all hit you at once and it felt like your world was crumbling to the ground around you. "I'm sorry, Mark. I can't." You swallowed hard around the lump in your throat and you couldn't blink back the tears any longer as they streamed down your cheeks. Mark stayed silent, you could see him trying to put the pieces together in his head. He suddenly jolted, his eyes widened with realisation as they locked with yours again and you knew he'd finally worked it out.  
  
"He didn't..." He trailed off, his eyes searching yours, begging for you to deny it. You just shook your head and looked shamefully at your feet. You prepared yourself for his reaction but got none, Mark simply sat there, staring into space, his eyes shooting around the room as he processed his thoughts.   
  
"Mark, please say something." You'd almost have preferred it if Mark had exploded at you, the lack of reaction was putting you on edge. He stayed silent for a little while longer before standing up and walking briskly over to the front door.   
  
"You need to leave."   
  
"What?" His face still betrayed no emotion and he refused to look at you as he stood holding the door open. "Don't do this Mark, why do I have to go?" He just shook his head.   
  
"Please, just go."   
  
The tears streamed freely now as you sullenly walked out the door, wincing as it slammed directly behind you and you heard Mark scream a string of curse words. Heavy sobs wracked your body as you walked home and you collapsed on your bed as you cried into your pillow.   
  
The tears didn't take long to run dry however and you reminisced of all the good memories you had made with Mark. The amount of times you two had stayed up all night playing video games and chatting about nothing. You loved the way he'd smirk at you every time he'd beat you, loved how he'd sulk when you beat him. You remembered how he'd hold you and let you cry into his shoulder whenever you needed it, he'd wipe the tears from your cheeks and tell you that you were strong and that everything would be okay. He was your constant, he was always there and when he needed you the most, you left.  
  
You screwed your eyes shut to rid yourself of the memories, afraid you would start to cry again. You reached into your bag to pull out your bottle of wine, taking a deep gulp while staring at your ceiling, you whispered to yourself.   
  
"I've ruined everything." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was pretty angsty, sorry about that, but this conversation was never going to end well.  
> I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

 

You set two large glasses of wine on the bar and collapsed on a stool with a sigh of relief, it had been a long, busy Saturday night and you and Mattie had been the only staff available.

"Ah yes, you're a gem (Y/N)" Mattie said as he finished closing the curtains and turned the lights down before also collapsing next to you and taking a large sip.

"You gonna talk to me about your bloke troubles then?" You almost choked on your sip causing Mattie to chuckle. "Come on, it's obvious. I'm a bit worried though, you looked like you came in the shop bruised a few weeks back." You laughed quickly to disguise how uncomfortable you were.

"Yeah, I fell pretty badly climbing the stairs to my apartment, I should cut back on my drinking really, I'm clumsy enough as it is." You looked into your glass, cursing your lack of make-up skills. You had tried your best but obviously it hadn't been good enough, you'd been using that excuse for weeks and it was beginning to sound more like a lie every time you said it. Mattie seemed to buy it because he snickered into his glass and nodded.

"You're a melt. Seriously though, what is up with you? I know you like a wind-down glass but you've really been hitting it hard."

_'For god's sake'_ how badly you wanted to just spill everything to him, you were so tired of keeping up the facade of everything being okay. It had definitely been slipping over the past few days and everyone was beginning to notice, having to wave off all the questions had you close to breaking point. You took a couple of gulps of wine, grimacing at the sour burn in the back of your throat.

"It's complicated really, but I haven't spoken to Mark in weeks and I don't really know what to do with myself anymore I guess. All I do is work, drink, sleep, repeat. He at least added something interesting to my day" Mattie gave you a hurt look, putting hand on his chest before looking into the distance dramatically. You smiled and took another sip of wine, welcoming the fog that was beginning to cloud your mind. "You know what I mean"

"Why haven't you two been talking?" You blinked a few times, realising you'd been drinking your wine quite fast and you now had to be extra careful what you said as your brain-to-mouth filter had been compromised.

"As I said, it's complicated. It's not really my place to talk about it, but he's got some serious personal shit that I ended up getting involved with. It got heated and now I haven't seen him in almost a month." Mattie hummed in thought, a look of deep concentration on his face. He didn't seem to know what to say, you weren't surprised, you hadn't really given him much to go on. "Don't worry" you added, waving your glass a little too vigorously, causing a couple of drops to splash onto the table. "This happens all the time right? Friends fight, we'll probably make up soon" you were getting sick of waving all your worries off, you wanted advice but you didn't know where to turn. You had no family, few friends, none of which you felt could help you and you'd pushed away the only person that could shed some clarity on the situation.

Mattie seemed to be relieved you had bailed him out of trying to think up some advice and smiled as he downed the rest of his glass.

"That's the spirit." His eyes widened when he caught a glance at the clock. "Oh my god, it's 2 in the morning, I've got to be back here for 11 tomorrow" He whined. "I'm gonna go, do you want a lift?" You shook your head as you finished your wine, you picked up the glasses and headed over to place them in the sink for them to be washed in the morning.

"No thanks, I quite fancy the walk, gives me a chance to clear my head." Mattie nodded, knowing better than to argue with you. Nobody liked the fact that you would walk home at the time of night that you would, but you had no idea why they were so worried. The walk was only about 3 miles and it was quite pleasant, you'd very rarely come across anyone and if you did they were never threatening.

You waved goodbye to Mattie, leaving him to lock up as you plugged your earphones in, choosing a playlist to set your walking pace and you started making your way down the dark road. You bopped, waved your arms and span about to the tune, not caring if anyone saw you, you were having fun. You slowed down when you came across Mark's block of apartments and you suddenly became aware of how dark it was, you looked up and you're eyes widened when you noticed the stars twinkling but no moonlight to speak of.

Your eyes snapped back to Mark's apartment, there were no lights on at all and you felt a small pang of worry ball up in your chest. Had Mark found someone else to help him? You pulled your earphones out and, despite every fibre of your being telling you not to, you creeped up to Mark's apartment. You paused when you came face to face with the door, feeling a shiver rattle up your spine at the thought that Dark could be there, unrestrained, behind it. You reached out for the door handle, freezing just before grabbing it and questioning whether you were being stupid, you were always making fun of horror film and game characters for doing this very thing. You were fully aware that there would be danger on the other side of the door, but you were worried about Mark, if nobody had helped him restrain Dark then you didn't even want to imagine what he could do.

Pushing self-preservation to the back of your mind, you pushed the door handle down, both horrified and surprised to find the door was unlocked, you peeked round the door, doing your best to be silent as possible. If Dark was lurking, you didn't want to alert him to your presence, though he'd probably know anyway. The apartment was almost pitch black, but due to the darkness outside it didn't take long for your eyes to adjust. You crept round the door, leaving it wide open behind you in case you needed to escape, and tip-toed into the living room, deeply uncomfortable with how quiet it was. You quashed the urge to call out for Mark, as you knew that if anyone was here, it probably wouldn't be Mark that would answer you.

You searched the rest of the rooms, your heart racing in your chest as the apprehension built inside you. You were constantly looking over your shoulder, fully expecting Dark to be standing behind you, or behind every door you opened, but he never appeared. As you made your way back outside, you came to the conclusion that Mark had sought help elsewhere for his problem and you hoped he was safe. There was nothing out of place and no sign of a struggle which was a positive.

The rest of the walk was uneventful and you sighed in relief as you dumped your coat and bag on the floor and kicked your shoes off. You made your way into your kitchen and grabbed a glass and a bottle of wine, pouring a large measure for yourself ready to wind down from the day. You couldn't kick the feeling that something was wrong though, you decided you'd try to visit Mark tomorrow, it was your day off and even if he didn't answer the door, you'd be able to see him checking the peephole and you'd at least know he's safe for another month. You took a deep breath and brought the glass up to your lips.

"( _Y/N_ )"

The glass slipped from your fingers and smashed on the floor, sending wine and shards everywhere but you didn't look, you were frozen in place. Your blood had turned to ice in your veins and your mind was blank other than the blind panic that was filling your every thought. How did he get in? "I've missed you, I very much enjoyed our night together." His smooth, sultry voice caressed your ears and you cringed, feeling disgusted with yourself. You refused to face him, choosing instead to stay frozen in place, it seemed the safest bet currently, you knew your fear was written all over your face.

"Why are you here?" You were impressed at how little your voice wavered despite your panic, but Dark tutted in amusement regardless. You jumped as you felt arms snake around your waist and pull you against a muscular chest.

"For you" You wouldn't have heard him had the words not been whispered directly into your ear and you caught yourself leaning into Dark's embrace. You quickly pulled away, pushing him away from you and backing yourself toward the door of the kitchen. You grabbed a knife you had left on the counter earlier and pointed it at Dark, not being able to steady your trembling hands.

"Stay away from me." Dark just smirked, taking another step towards you.

"Don't be stupid, I know you wouldn't hurt Mark."

_'Fuck'_ You hadn't thought about that; you dropped the knife, turning to run back to your door but Dark was, again, too fast for you and he grabbed you, pulling you back against him again.

"Come now (Y/N), from what I remember you seemed to enjoy it too, I don't understand why you won't just let me in" You could feel it, he was taking you over again. It was like he was a presence in your mind, you felt yourself relax as the unexplainable force made you think everything would be okay. You mentally shook your head, you couldn't let him in again. You thought of Mark, what if Dark gathered enough power to take him over completely? You felt an ache in your chest, you'd missed him terribly over the past few weeks and the thought of never seeing him again was unbearable.

"No!" You pushed your elbow back into Dark's chest and you heard him choke and felt his grip loosen, you may have winded him but you didn't look back to check, you just ran for the door, you needed to get out.

"Fine." You heard Dark say behind you, he sounded genuinely disappointed, as if he was actually going to let you go. You barely had time to process this before you felt a searing pain in the back of your head and everything went black.

* * *

A familiar pounding headache woke you from your slumber, you didn't bother trying to move or open your eyes, you didn't really want to know what sort of situation you'd landed in this time.

"Has my sleeping beauty finally awakened?" You rolled your eyes behind their lids, resisting the urge to tell him exactly where he could shove his words. You eventually decided to slowly open your eyes, the brightness of the room not agreeing with your sensitive retinas.

Once the world came into focus, you realised you were still in your apartment and you had been tied to one of your chairs. Dark was sat in a chair in front of you, shaking his head at you, his brows knitted together with a look akin to concern. Sunshine poured through the window, the warming sensation was pleasant on your face.

_'Hold on...'_ You thought to yourself, staring at Dark.

"Why are you still here?" You grumbled, your brain still trying to ground itself. Dark nonchalantly looked towards the window the sunlight glinting off his onyx irises and further enhancing how pale his skin was.

"That would be thanks to you, my dear, daylight is no longer my curfew" he returned to staring at you, a war seemed to be going on behind his eyes. You held eye contact with him for a while, waiting for him to reveal his plans for you, but he never did. You noticed the set of instruments laid out on your coffee table; just random things that you had laying around the place, a knife, a metal pole from a broken clothes horse and your washing line. Your eyes widened as you suddenly realised what was about to happen to you, but why did he look so troubled about it?

"Why are you looking at me like that?" You eventually asked, not actually wanting to know the answer. Dark sighed, taking a few seconds to answer.

"It's such a shame, I'd have very much liked to keep you" Your stomach dropped as you realised what he was hinting at, there was literally zero chance of escape this time. Your eyes scanned the room as you subtly fiddled with the bonds round your hands, desperately searching for a way out. Dark got up and began pacing, frustration clear on his face. "I don't know when I'm next going to encounter someone with such strong will. I can't let you go, you're the key, but if you won't give me the power willingly..." He huffed in frustration before continuing his crazed mumbling. "I'm not even human, how are you making me feel these things?" he then growled before narrowing his eyes at you, staring intently as if you had all the answers. "Why don't I want to kill you?"

You were taken aback by the question, not knowing how to respond. You didn't think a being like Dark would be capable of attachment, though surely if he was going to kill you, you'd already be dead. You felt a little hope flutter in your chest at the thought that Mark might be fighting to take over again.

"I want to talk to Mark." You said softly, knowing the response you were going to get.

"How many times do I have to refuse that request before you get it?" Dark said bitterly, his eyes dimly glowing with his rising anger.

"Please, at least so I can say goodbye. I can't stop you from taking him over." Your voice was monotone, defeated, and you hadn't looked up from the floor the entire time.

"I'll never understand you humans and your sentiments, it's always your downfall" Dark scoffed, before heaving an irritated sigh. "Fine, I'll allow him this, but I'll be watching the entire time" You shot your head up in surprise, not believing your eyes as you watched Dark's dimly glowing crimson eyes close and open again to Mark's soft, chocolate brown.

Mark gasped as he was given back control of his body, looking around frantically, trying to figure out where he was. When his eyes locked on you his mouth fell open and his look of shock fell into agonising guilt. He quickly made his way over to you to untie you, his trembling hands making the task difficult for him.

"Jesus (Y/N), I'm so sorry, are you alright? What's going on? He locked me out completely, just kept saying 'it's time'" You rubbed your aching wrists while Mark continued rambling, just happy to hear the sound of his voice again. You stood up and turned to face him, pressing a finger to his lips to silence his rambling.

"I'm fine, but if you know of any way we can stop him, I need to know now." He reached out and touched your cheek where some of the blood from your head had dried, tears began to spill down his cheeks as he pulled you into a tight embrace. In that moment, it was as if the rest of the world disappeared, you felt all your pain and worry melt away, you felt safe in his arms, the world was finally right and you never wanted it to end.

"You'd have to kill us." In less than a nanosecond, your reverie shattered and reality came crashing back down upon you, you pushed away from Mark and narrowed your eyes at him, not believing the words you were hearing. Mark looked away from you, taking deep breaths in an attempt to stem his tears.

"No. That's not an option. There has to be another way." Your voice cracked as you spoke, you could feel a lump forming in your throat. Your chest felt like it was constricting and you struggled to breathe. You couldn't let Mark die, you wouldn't be able to live with yourself.

"It's the only way, he won't let me do it myself." Mark sobbed.

"Why didn't you tell me about this, about  _him_  earlier?!" You yelled in frustration, you just didn't understand. A couple of months ago the world made sense, it wasn't ideal but you were content. "I might have been able to find a way to help you!"

"Don't you think I fucking looked for another way?! I've tried everything!" He screamed back at you, causing you to involuntarily flinch. You inwardly cursed yourself for how weak Dark had made you. Mark took a couple of deep breaths, calming himself before he continued softly. "I even tried having him exorcised, he laughed in their faces, nothing works. Please, I don't want him to hurt you again, he won't stop until you either submit to him, or he kills you."

You made your way over to the coffee table, leaning over it to hide the tears blurring your vision as you mentally screamed every expletive you knew.

_'It's not fair, neither of us deserve this.'_

"Why does he want me? Why am I so powerful to him?" You received no immediate response, you heard Mark take a couple of sharp breaths, as if he were going to say something, but he'd then stop short. You turned to face him and were surprised by the fact that he was right in front of you, he stared into your eyes for a while and you could see the pain on his face. He then leaned in, he wrapped his arms around you, pulling you against him before gently pressing his soft, yet chapped lips against yours. You gasped and screwed your eyes shut to allow your tears to fall as you threw your arms around Mark's neck, pulling him impossibly closer, never wanting to let him go again.

You heard him make a noise of approval as he gently pushed you back, lifting you so you were sat on the table, his touch had changed however.  You didn't have to open your eyes to know Mark had gone, he had become almost unnoticeably less gentle, less loving and more lustful.  You reciprocated and wrapped your legs around Dark's waist and leaned back on one arm as the kiss deepened and you felt his body press further against you.

You silently sobbed into the kiss, silently feeling out for the pole that was sat next to you. You hesitated for a moment, you didn't want to do this, there was a part of you that didn't want to hurt Dark, even after all he'd put you through.  You couldn't let that side of you win, you gripped the pole tightly and before you could talk yourself out of it, you swung it round with all of your strength, and it connected with Dark's head with a sickening thump.

He didn't make a sound as he crumpled to the floor, you stayed sat on the table and stared at the wall, refusing to look at him as you tried to control your urge to scream.  After a few minutes you managed to pull yourself together, you slid off the table and cautiously pressed your fingers against Dark's throat, you heaved a heavy sigh of relief when you felt his heartbeat pulse against the pads of your fingertips.  You looked around, knowing you only had a limited time before Dark could wake up and that you should probably restrain him somehow.  You quickly scanned the room and saw your washing line had been pushed off the table and onto the floor, you quickly picked it up.

It took some time, Dark's muscular body was incredibly heavy anyway let alone as dead weight, but you had managed to tie him as securely as you could to the chair.  You took a step back to admire your handy work, taken aback by how peaceful Dark looked, despite the slowly trickling head wound.

You looked away, fiddling with the leftover washing line as you tried to think, your plan hadn't really progressed past this point.

_'Now what?'_

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Graphic Content: Gore, Smut

You sat in your hallway watching the front door, your foot tapping impatiently on the ground as you lost yourself in your thoughts.  It had been a little over twenty-four hours since you had incapacitated Dark, you were a bit worried that he hadn’t woken up yet, but he was still breathing.  You had dressed the wound on his head to the best of your ability and you hoped Mark was still in there and that he was okay. 

You were startled from your reverie by a sharp knock and you leapt up to open the door; an elderly woman quickly rushed past you without a word.  She was short and frail-looking with long silver hair that was a bit tangled, though you didn’t know if that was normal or the result of her rushed journey.

“I’m glad you called me, I didn’t believe you at first, but I could sense him the moment I entered the street” she muttered, her voice low and scratchy, as she quickly went about starting preparations for the night ahead.

After you’d knocked Dark out and spent a bit more time double and triple checking that he was securely restrained and would not escape, you kept as much distance from him as you possibly could.  You hopped straight onto your computer to try and find anything that would help you sort this out, it’s not like you could ring the police. To your surprise, it didn’t take long to come across something, a demon by the name of Aka Manah, referenced in scriptures from the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism whose description sounded almost exactly like Dark.  Third of the seven sons of Lucifer, he is often referred to as the ‘true son of the devil’ as he is the most violent demon to ever be born in the depths of hell. His name is Avestan for the Zoroastrian daeva ‘Evil Mind’, ‘Evil Purpose’, ‘Evil Thinking’ or ‘Evil Intention’ and he selects possession victims dependant on their ‘life-force’ levels as he otherwise cannot survive on the surface plane.

It had taken you a while longer to find Roshanak, the woman who was now bustling around the unconscious man in your living room, but she claimed to possibly have the ability to perform the exorcism necessary to remove a demon like Dark.  She had been extremely sceptical on the phone, she even hung up on you once, convinced you were prank calling, but you were persistent. You pleaded with her to at least check it out, you described the night you had met Dark, omitting certain parts of the story, you were still incredibly conflicted about that night and you just didn’t want to think about it.  She seemed concerned by what you’d described, as she was instantly eager to pay Dark a visit.

The scene in your living room was surreal once the exorcism preparations were complete, there were 5 tall, white candles placed in a circle around Dark’s chair, the holders they were placed in were black, elegantly decorated and stood about a foot tall, they were also shaped in a special way around the candles so that it would be difficult to extinguish them. A small decorative container was placed at the base of each candle-holder, containing what you assumed from your limited research to be offerings to whoever Roshanak was going to call upon to help you. 

Roshanak had placed a very thin white shirt on Dark as best she could without untying him and was fiddling with a thin piece of rope wrapped around it.  She tied it with a double knot at the front, then round the back and to the front again, mumbling in a different language as she tied each knot. She then pulled a book from her bag and sat cross-legged on the floor, just outside of the circle of candles before handing you a thin wooden splint, a box of matches and a small stiletto knife. It was beautifully decorated, with an embroidered handle and symbols expertly etched into the blade.

“Light the candles. Make sure to stay out of the circle.” You paused, staring at the items for a second.

“What’s the knife for?” You asked before taking the items, admiring the craftsmanship of the blade. 

“A last resort.  I hope you won’t need to use it.” You raised an eyebrow at the cryptic response but put the knife in your pocket anyway.  You had an idea about the knife's purpose but didn't want to entertain the thought. You then looked between the remaining items in your hands and the candle holders around the room, you were unsure whether you should be shouldering this responsibility, after all, you knew absolutely nothing about exorcisms in general, nevermind rituals from obscure ancient religions. What if you did something wrong? Nevertheless, you made your way around the room, igniting the splint and carefully lighting each candle and making sure your limbs kept a respectable distance from the edge once it was complete.

The room temperature dropped the moment the last candle was lit, a breeze seeming to circulate from nowhere in an attempt to extinguish the gently flickering lights.

“What do you think you’re doing, (Y/N)?” the voice was calm, but laced with malice and followed by an animalistic snarl that froze the blood in your veins.  Dark was awake, and he was staring directly at you, his usually black eyes pulsing a that deep shade of blood-red that caused every hair on your body to stand on end.  You could tell from the way his muscles were discreetly flexing that he was testing his bonds and you suddenly felt panic wash over you, Dark was inhumanly strong, what if he broke through the ropes.  You turned to look at Roshanak, whose eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth set in a line, studying Dark intently, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was witnessing. 

“It’s him, but he’s weak.” She then said dismissively, looking down at her book. “He’d have broken free by now.  Don’t listen to anything he says.”

Dark snarled again, the sound was like nothing you’d ever heard, like it came from the devil himself.  The atmosphere suddenly seemed to turn almost acidic, your skin prickled painfully as if it were being corroded and you had to sit yourself on the floor after a sudden wave of nausea hit you, the taste of copper filled your mouth and you had to try hard not to gag.  Roshanak didn’t seem fazed as she flipped through the pages of her book, pausing on a certain passage before she began to speak, words you couldn't understand rolled off her tongue effortlessly as she began the ritual.

Dark didn’t seem to respond, at least not in the way you expected.  There was no screaming, he didn’t twist and thrash around in pain at the words the elderly woman was muttering, but the room became impossibly dark.  You could barely see despite the fact the candles were still lit, as if the light itself had been sapped from the room.

_ “(Y/N)?”  _ You froze, it felt like a hand had a vice-like grip on your heart at the pained whine.  Despite Roshanak attempting to drown his voice out with hers, there was no mistaking it in your mind, that was Mark, but unlike you’d ever heard him before.  He sounded terrified and in pain, your name croaking from his throat as if he’d spent the last few hours screaming. “(Y/N), are you there? W-what’s going on?” You didn’t answer, the rational half of your brain thinking it just a ploy by Dark to get you to release him.  “Please help me, (Y/N), I know you’re there!” You turned to leave the room, unable to bear the pleading any longer, but just as you were about to cross the threshold of your hallway, the voice changed back to a bone-chilling growl.

_ “Come here” _ Suddenly, before you could react, you felt an unseen force quickly suck you towards the centre of the room.  You briefly heard Roshanak pause her chanting and begin to yell something before you breached the barrier of the circle of candles and you were blinded by white. 

\-----------

When your vision returned, you found yourself in a dimly lit hallway that you didn't recognise.  You blinked and looked around in confusion, the hallway appeared to belong to a hotel, with multiple wooden doors lining both sides and one at the end, but none of the doors were numbered. 

“What the fuck?” You whispered to yourself, tentatively going to open one of the doors closest to you. The door swung open to a small, empty room, the off-white paint was peeling from the cracked walls and at the other end there was a large window in the centre of the wall.  You approached the window cautiously, peering through the glass to see what looked like Mark’s living room. The view was swinging around the room disorientingly fast, as if you were watching through someone else's eyes. It didn't show much before panning up to view the ceiling and looping back to the beginning.

Confused, you backed out slowly to check the next room, revealing the same set up,  though checking the window showed something different. Someone you recognised to be Mark’s old roommate walked into view, you had only met him a couple of times, he was always on his way out when you'd go over to Mark’s, so you just assumed he worked a lot.  He was saying something but there was no sound so you couldn't make it out. He looked nervous though, his eyes shooting to Mark’s front door which was just out of frame. He suddenly went to run as his arm was grabbed by whoever’s eyes you were peering through before it, again, looped back to the beginning.  Then it hit you, that was Mark’s hand, though it was devoid of his natural skin colour so he must have been under Dark’s control. Were you watching his memories? You shook your head, utterly confused, when you noticed a small key on the windowsill in front of you, it was pretty generic, bronze in colour and a little rusted.

“What is going on?” You whined to yourself, were you hallucinating? Did you hit your head after you were dragged backwards?  You pocketed the key as you left the room to check the next one, finding it locked, you jimmied the handle, pushing against the door but it wouldn't give, so you pressed your ear to the wood. You knew it’d be a longshot as you’d only experienced complete silence so far, though your eyes widened in surprise as you heard a faint whimpering from the other side.

“It was me, I did it” The muffled sentence was being repeated like a mantra, it sounded like Mark.  You hurriedly pulled the key out of your pocket, it took a bit of work to get the key into the old lock, for a second you didn't believe the key was a match, but eventually the lock clicked and you slowly opened the door.

Mark was sat on the floor in the middle of the room, crying with his face in his hands and shaking his head, he didn't seem to notice you as he never looked up, though your eyes were quickly drawn to the images through the window.  It seemed to follow directly from the room before, with Mark's former roommate caught in his grip, there was pure, unadulterated fear in the young man’s eyes as Dark’s other hand gripped his throat, holding him against the wall and preventing him from moving, the complete lack of sound with the images somehow made them more terrifying. Mark's roommate then suddenly screamed and his eyes almost bulged from their sockets, the view panned down slightly to view Dark plunging his hand into the man’s chest, thick, dark blood poured from the wound over Dark’s forearm as he pulled the still beating heart back through the hole.  You watched the light quickly fade from the young man’s eyes before his now lifeless body fell to the floor out of view. Dark closed his blood-red fist around the organ in his grasp, his hand emitting a faint glow as the heart seemed to meld into his skin, concluding the memory.

You fell to the floor as a wave of dizziness overcame you and you had to swallow back the need to dry heave.  You could barely comprehend what you had just witnessed, you shut your eyes to try and compose yourself but the images were burned to the back of your eyelids.  It hadn't truly hit you until now what a monster Dark was, he was no incubus, he was a cold blooded murderer hungry for power, a true demon from hell. You hated to think how long Mark had been locked in this room, forced to watch Dark use his body to do these terrible things.

You managed to finally pull yourself together enough to crawl over to where Mark was still sobbing to himself and put a hand on his shoulder.  He almost leapt out of his skin at the touch, pulling away from you as if you had burned him. His eyes widened once he realised who you were.

“(Y/N)? What-? How-?” he stuttered as he stared at you, not being able to believe his eyes.  He looked tortured, he was pale, with deep, dark circles around his bloodshot eyes.

“It's okay Mark, I'm going to help you.” he just shook his head.

“No, you can't be here, how did you get here?  You need to leave” he rambled.

“I don't even know where we are or how I got here. I don't know how to leave” you explained, unsettled by how panicked Mark was by your presence.  He just shook his head.

“You're not real, this is just another way for him to torture me.” he said dejectedly, causing your heart to ache at how broken Mark had become.  You grabbed his arm to pull him to his feet.

“Come on, we need to get out of here” he didn't respond, following you out of the room silently.  You turned to lock the door to the room again, kicking the key under it before turning to Mark. You put your hands on his cheeks to force him to look you in the eyes. “I’m so sorry Mark, but that was not you, that was Dark. You are not responsible for what he does.” His eyes dropped to stare at the floor, agonising guilt plain on his face, so you pulled him into a hug, it took a few seconds for him to return the embrace but he gripped you tightly as he began sobbing anew.

“I don't want to lose you too.  It'll be my fault, I got you involved.” You didn't respond, just stroked the hair on the back of his head as Mark let years of hidden torture and misery out for you to see.

After the tears stopped flowing you pulled away, giving Mark a gentle smile which he returned.

“Let's find a way out of here” you said as you both made your way to the door at the end of the hallway.  This room was much bigger than the rest, with a large window that took up the entire wall. Through the window you could see your living room, though it was still impossibly dark even with the candlelights. You could only just see Roshanak, still sat just outside the circle continuing the ritual, she looked worried, her eyes flicking from the pages in front of her to the right.  You followed her line of sight and gasped as you saw your own motionless body, lying just inside the circle. Mark seemed to notice too as he stared at you with wide eyes, his mouth opening as if to say something but his voice wouldn't materialise.

“You are quite the troublemaker aren't you (Y/N)?” You froze, as did Mark, you felt the familiar sensation of your blood running cold as you slowly turned to face the demon in the doorway. Dark slowly crossed the room to stand in front of you, watching the window with a smirk, admiring his handiwork.

“What is this place?” you demanded, not taking your eyes off him.  He turned to you, his smirk only widening as he outstretched his arms to gesture at the room around you.

“Welcome to Mark’s mind, do you like what I've done with the place? It's just a little thing I came up with on short notice so I wouldn't have to listen to Mark’s snivelling while my plan comes to fruition.” he sneered at Mark, whose face turned to thunder.

“You made me kill my best friend” Mark growled, before launching himself at his oppressor.  Dark effortlessly flung him away into the wall, causing him to cry out in pain as he hit the floor.  You ran over to help him but your arm was grabbed by Dark.

“Ah ah ah, you've spoilt my fun quite enough young lady, though I must congratulate you on your research. You almost had me, shame all that effort you went to was only good enough to keep me inside that circle” He then threw you against the opposite wall, you saw him quickly close in on you through the stars in your vision.  He looked down at you while shaking his head, you couldn't look away from his deep onyx eyes, almost losing yourself in them as your head swam from the contact with the wall. “You really thought you could stop me? I should have killed you when we first met. How did you make me so weak when you radiate such a powerful life force?” he questioned rhetorically before he grabbed your throat and pulled you up to his eye level.  His eyes began to glow and a smile spread across his face as you struggled to breathe through his grip. “Now I'm finally going to have full control of this body. I'll have the power to destroy your little exorcism attempt and the surface plane will be my domain.” he pressed a quick kiss to your lips, though you barely felt it as you felt your consciousness begin to fade. “It's such a shame I have to make this quick, you're so beautiful when you're in pain.”

“No!” you heard Mark yell faintly in the background as you saw Dark pull his other arm back, ready to end your existence.  Without thinking and with the last of your energy you quickly grabbed the dagger Roshanak had given you, thrusting it forward with all the strength you could muster.

You choked and gasped for air as you were promptly dropped to the floor.  Dark stumbled back a few steps, staring incredulously at the hilt that was sticking out of his chest.

“What have you done?  What is this!?” he bellowed as a thick, viscous substance began to ooze from the wound, it fizzled as it touched the floor before seeming to evaporate, leaving only black dust.  You couldn't respond as you continued to gasp for precious oxygen, staring in wonder as Dark’s chest began to concave in front of you. “No! I won't let you take this from me!” his screaming was pained as he staggered forwards, reaching towards you in a final desperate attempt to take your life, but before he could get too close, Mark shot up from his position on the floor and shoved him away from you.  Dark released a demonic yell and his body contorted unnaturally in pain before eventually succumbing to the dagger’s power, his screams faded as he disappeared back to whence he came, leaving the dagger sitting in the large dust pile.

You barely had time to process what had just happened when a wave of intense dizziness overcame you, you fell back to lie on the floor, vaguely aware of Mark leaning over you, he looked worried.

It felt like only a blink, it perhaps was, but you opened your eyes and found yourself staring at your living room ceiling.  You sat up with a groan, gently shaking your head to try and clear the grogginess from your brain.

“You did it.” you heard Roshanak say, and looked up to see her with a relieved smile on her face.  You only had the energy to nod weakly as you looked over to check on Mark. He hadn't awoken yet, which caused a pang of worry to shoot through your chest, it must have shown on your face as Roshanak put a hand on your shoulder, squeezing reassuringly.  “He’s been locked in his mind for some time, it may take him a while to wake, but he'll be fine.” Your tense shoulders relaxed a little in relief and you smiled gratefully at the older woman as she went about collecting her things together.

You worked together to untie Mark and move him to your sofa, making sure he was lying comfortably before you went to see Roshanak off.

“Thank you so much for your help, I don't think I could ever repay you.” you said as you shook her hand.  She raised her other hand in a dismissive manner.

“Just knowing that demon is not on this plane of existence is enough payment for me.  Well done.” You smiled and waved as she made her way out your door before closing and locking it behind her.

\-----------

A few hours had passed and you were starting to get worried again, you had spent the entire time watching Mark closely, searching for any signs of him regaining consciousness.  You had taken the bandaging off his head to check the wound, which seemed to be healing well. You were considering calling an ambulance and were in the process of thinking up an explanation for Mark’s head injury when you saw him shift slightly, a barely audible groan escaping him as his eyes slowly fluttered open.  You heaved a sigh of relief.

“Thank god, you're okay!  How are you feeling?” You asked earnestly, you'd missed those soft brown eyes, the warmth behind them a stark contrast to Dark’s cold, empty gaze.  Mark didn't respond straight away, staring into space as if he were listening for something, he then sat up, a large smile spread across his face and he suddenly looked more relaxed than you'd ever seen him before.

“He's gone.  He's really gone” Mark said in disbelief.  You smiled and nodded, then gasped as you were suddenly enveloped in a tight embrace, he stood up, lifting you from the floor slightly in order to grip you tighter.  You returned it immediately, revelling in the sensation of Mark's muscular arms surrounding you. The world felt right again, you were safe. “Thank you (Y/N), thank you so much!” You heard Mark’s voice waver and felt tears begin to soak your shoulder, so you quickly pulled away.

“Hey, what's wrong?” You asked, using your thumbs to gently wipe away his tears. Mark shook his head, the smile returning to his face.

“Nothing, I just never thought I'd be free of him.  I thought he was going to kill you. I'm just a bit overwhelmed.”  You just smiled and pulled him back into your embrace, holding him tight and never wanting to let go.

“(Y/N)?” You barely heard Mark speak, you pulled back from the embrace again to find him staring deep into your eyes, before he slowly closed the gap and gently touched his lips against yours.  You felt your heart pound in your chest as you closed your eyes to return the kiss, you heard him grunt in approval as he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer. You threw your arms over Mark’s shoulders to push your fingers through his hair and pull yourself impossibly close to him as the kiss grew more heated, you felt Mark's hands slide down over your butt to your thighs and gasped as you were lifted off the floor and gently laid down on your sofa, Mark wasting no time crawling on top of you to reconnect the kiss.

The sensation of his lips against yours felt both familiar and brand new at the same time, they were firm yet loving, passion behind the lust, so different from Dark’s expert but unfeeling touch.  You screwed your eyes shut tighter to rid yourself of any more thoughts of him, he was gone now.

You had no trouble losing yourself in the moment with Mark, his every touch sending sparks up your spine and frying any thought you may have.  You felt Mark's fingers slide under your shirt and gasped as the cool digits made contact with your hot skin, gliding along the curve of your waist to your breast.  His lips began to move down your jaw, leaving light nips as he made his way to your throat causing a wanton groan to escape you as you lightly dug your nails into Mark's back.  You heard him inhale sharply as he ground his hips against yours, you felt arousal surge in your gut and you arched your body against his, pushing your hands under his shirt to indicate you wanted it removed.  Mark quickly obliged, almost tearing the fabric from his skin before throwing it haphazardly to the side. You marveled at his chiseled torso, reaching up to run your fingers over the ridges of his muscles, taking care to memorise every inch of the Adonis above you.  

You finally locked eyes with Mark again, he was breathing heavily, lust blazing behind his gaze.  He gripped the bottom of your shirt and you sat up slightly to make it easier for him to pull it over your head, he reached behind you to expertly unclasp your bra before descending on you again, crushing his lips against yours and grasping your breast, squeezing rhythmically.  You mewled into the kiss, your every nerve felt like it was on fire and you couldn't think straight, you just knew that you were irrevocably attracted to this man and you needed him to know it.

You raked your nails down his back as he began trailing rough kisses down your throat again, your breath hitched as he continued to descend between your breasts, occasionally taking some skin between his teeth causing your body to jolt and you cried out from the pleasure/pain.  You barely noticed that Mark had hooked his fingers into the hem of your jeans and underwear until he had pulled away and was tugging the last of your clothing from your body. He threw the fabric to the side and sat back on his knees, staring at you hungrily, you suddenly became a little self-conscious, biting your lip as you started to curl into yourself, you were quickly stopped when Mark placed his hands on your thighs.

“Fuck you're beautiful” he whispered huskily, falling forwards to attack your lips once more, pressing his body against you, his hips gyrating against yours as his hands roamed over any part of your body he could reach.  You whimpered when you felt his clothed erection grind against your exposed entrance, the deep, guttural groan that erupted from Mark caused a shiver to run up your spine and the knot that had formed in your belly to coil tighter.  

Mark broke the kiss, moving to suck on the flesh of your throat again and you closed your eyes, not being able to reign back the noises falling from your lips.  He shifted to push his own lower layers from his body, his length sprung free and you yelped and bucked your hips as you felt the tip rub against your hypersensitive bundle of nerves.  Mark sank his teeth into the now bruised section of skin on your throat and you inhaled sharply, arching your body and clawing at his back wrenching that spine-tingling sound from Mark’s lips again.  He released your flesh from his teeth, his heavy breathing in your ear making your hairs stand on end. 

“I'm sorry, I can't wait any longer” he groaned as he ground his hips against yours again, his rock-hard member sliding deliciously against your opening.

“Then don't” you whined, surprised you were able to form words at all, your senses were completely shot and you weren't able to form many coherent thoughts.  Any thoughts derailed, crashed and burned however as Mark wasted no time plunging into you, causing you both to cry out in unison.

“F-fuck” Mark choked, burying his face in the crook of your neck as he started to move, rocking his hips back slowly to firmly push back in. You gripped his shoulders, nails digging in as you tried to contain the volume of your pleasured screams for your neighbour's sake.  You had to stop yourself from finishing then and there, your nerves so overloaded with the sensations Mark was inflicting on your body.

It didn't take long for Mark to speed up, his hand moving down to grip your thigh, pulling it up to give him access to press deeper, you mewled uncontrollably, rocking your hips to meet his thrusts.  Your body suddenly lurched involuntarily and you saw stars.

“Oh god…” You croaked.  He'd found it and he knew it as his thrusting instantly became harder and more precise.  Your toes curled as Mark consistently pounded that spot, his arms curled around you, gripping you tightly to give him better leverage.  You could feel the knot in your gut coiling tighter and tighter, threatening to come undone any second.

“M-Mark!” you called out, throwing your head back against the sofa cushions, you were so close to the edge.  Mark groaned into your throat again, biting down on your flesh as his rhythm faltered, his thrusts becoming erratic.

“Say my name again” Mark breathed, his voice low and strained, a thin sheen of sweat forming on his rippling muscles as he moved, still making sure to hit the spot that sent shocks through you.

“Mark!” You almost screamed, you saw white as your release came crashing down upon you, every muscle in your body contracted as wave after wave of ecstasy bombarded your senses.

“(Y/N)… I'm gonna-” Mark didn't manage to finish the sentence, he rammed deep into you a final time with a low growl before collapsing on top of you.

You both lay there for a while, gasping for breath, your body twitching occasionally from the powerful aftershocks of your orgasm.  Mark eventually shifted, lifting some of his weight off you, his breathing still a little laboured as he kissed you gently.

“I love you” he whispered against your lips, you smiled wide, happiness bubbling in your chest as you caught him in another chaste kiss.

“I love you too”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there it is. Thank you so much to everybody who took this journey with me, I really enjoyed writing this story and I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much. If you have any questions, requests or just want to chat, feel free to drop me a message. 
> 
> With that, I bid you adieu. Til next time, you beautiful people.


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